CS371P Spring 2021: Safin Kasturi

What did you do this past week?

This week I spent some time working on projects and modules for my artificial intelligence and culture classes. I also got added to network security this past week, so I had to catch up on those lectures a little bit. This weekend however I got to spend some time with my friends which was a nice break from school work.

What’s in your way?

Nothing is actually in my way just yet, especially since I have not started the collatz project yet, but I am very confident I will run into blockers once I start making some progress.

What will you do next week?

I need to start the Collatz project soon, as well as catch up on some reading for my Artificial Intelligence class. One fear I have regarding the Collatz project is that I have zero prior experience with C++, so I really hope it doesn’t take me too long to get familiar with it before I can really start working on the project.

If you read it, what did you think of the makefile?

I think the makefile is a very useful tool. I like that it simplifies my job in compiling, running, and testing things by providing simple make commands, however there are some aspects of the makefile that I don’t really fully understand yet.

What was your experience of Docker? (this question will vary, week to week)

I got some experience with Docker last semester in SWE, so I haven’t really picked up anything new so far in this class. I do however want to learn more about Docker this semester.

What was your experience of assertions? (this question will vary, week to week)

It was interesting to me (but makes a lot of sense) that assertions are not good for unit testing. I don’t use assertions a lot in code I write, but I realize they are effectively dynamic comments, which can help when looking at code that was written a long time ago, or ensuring correctness in a piece of code.

What was your experience of unit tests? (this question will vary, week to week)

From this week’s lecture, my experience of unit tests is roughly the same as what I picked up in SWE lecture last semester. It’s important to use an effective framework for unit testing, and also the idea of unit testing helps me to stay thinking about modularizing my code as I work on projects.

What made you happy this week?

This week my roommate and I cooked a lot, which was a fun and slightly hectic experience, but the food turned out pretty good (or so we think) so overall it was a good experience.

What’s your pick-of-the-week or tip-of-the-week?

From doing the same project last semester in SWE, one thing I will do this semester for the Collatz project is first thoroughly read and understand the makefile before starting the project, since it can save a lot of time typing extra commands in the terminal.